Wisconsin man charged in 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man is due in federal court Thursday on charges of assaulting law enforcement using a deadly or dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Riley Kasper, of Pulaski, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon, among other counts.

The 23-year-old Kasper was arrested in Ashland on Wednesday and is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the Western District of Wisconsin.

He’s accused of spraying a canister of what was believed to be pepper spray toward law enforcement officers who were attempting to secure the Capitol building and grounds.

Prosecutors said Kasper later communicated on social media that there was “something satisfying about pepper spraying cops in riot gear.”

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Milwaukee and Washington field offices.

The U.S. Department of Justice said more than 775 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol. That number includes 245 people who have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.